The Print Ad titled AMC’S THE WALKING DEAD + MICROSOFT BING was done by Bark Bark, Starcom Mediavest Group New York advertising agencies for product: Bing (brand: Bing) in United States. It was released in Oct 2011.

Describe the objective of the promotion.
The objectives were truly 3-fold.
1) To contextually connect the fans of The Walking Dead (who over-index on interest in gadgetry) to a memorable mobile Bing search experience.
2) To drive tune-in promotion for the season 2 première of The Walking Dead
3) To encourage fans to enter the Stagger On Role Sweepstakes by visiting the microsite which included in-depth series and Bing info.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation.
Starcom MediaVest and Bing identified the passionate fan-base of The Walking Dead as a wise target for increasing likeability and brand opinion for Bing. So began the creative challenge for this promotion, which was actually the subject of an in-depth New York Times article. http://tinyurl.com/bingzombie. Working directly with the show creators, the AMC marketing team, Starcom MediaVest and Bing’s marketing team, our agency led the project through the complex issues of post-apocalyptic zombies using a mobile search engine: pitching several ideas, scripting, storyboarding, casting, shooting and delivering humorous spots which show-creators, clients and most importantly, the fans, adored.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service.
During the lead-up to the Season 2 première, Season 1 episodes of The Walking Dead ran frequently on AMC. Integrating into the look/feel/action of TWD, these contextually relevant spots ran in adjacency to the Season 1 repeats build-up, and in prominent placement during the Season 2 première. Creating a powerful landscape to reach fans in an 'insider' environment to deliver the brand message, we also encouraged fans to enter for a chance to be a zombie, and find out more about Bing on AMCTV.com. By creating a custom, contextually relevant 360 integration for the product, we spoke to fans authentically.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results.
The initial positive client creative reaction was overwhelming. Bing adored the spots, increasing frequency and impressions by increasing the ad buy. According to Nielsen, the contextually relevant ads over-indexed and outperformed all other same-brand broadcast and cable norms: Likeability +82%, Brand Opinion +90%, General Recall +48%, Brand Recall +60%. 231,581 sweepstakes entries were received and, according to the clients, the campaign generated the most Buzz of any Bing media program in 2011. TWD première delivered 7.3m instant/11m with repeat viewers, becoming the highest rated première on AMC, and the most watched episode of a drama in the history of basic cable television (18-49&25-54).